Cylindrophis maculatus (Linneaus 1758) extant is closely related to other snakes, including Loxocemus and Xenopeltis. It phylogenetically preceded Uropeltis.

Distinct from Loxocemus, the skull of Cylindrophis has a smaller pair of frontals and a longer, narrower set ot parietals. The prefrontals are larger and the maxilla is not so tall. The jugal is reduced both below the orbit and behind it. The postfrontal descends nearly to the maxilla. The retroarticular process is absent. Like Heloderma the coronoid is a raised triangle immediately behind the the dentary. Cylindrophis is non-venemous.

The tail is stocky and closely resembles the head.

Linnaeus C 1758. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.

Vidal N and Hedges SB 2002. Higher-level relationships of snakes inferred from four nuclear and mitochondrial genes. C. R. Biologies 325 (2002) 977–985.

Wilcox TP, Zwickl DJ, Heath TA and Hillis DM 2002. Phylogenetic relationships of the dwarf boas and a comparison of Bayesian and bootstrap measures of phylogenetic support. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 25 (2002) 361–371. online pdf

wiki/Cylindrophus